AVM Rajesh Shankar Pillai shifted to Bangalore eight years ago. In two months of committing his time to the Jaagte Raho! campaign, this 36-year-old IT Commissioner has become one of our star performer. He speaks about the challenges he faced in Ward No 25 and his success matrix in a telephone interview with Thej, our inhouse podcaster.

A rush transcript...

IJanaagraha: What inspired you to be an AVM?
Rajesh:  It’s a very good concept and for the first time the election commission is recognising such a concept from an NGO, and allowing them to participate in the election process which is a very big deal.

IJ: How many forms have you submitted so far?
R: I have around a 140 forms with me out of which I have submitted a 100. Since the elections got postponed, I have about 40 left with me.

IJ: How was your experience when you met the people for the first time?
R: After my training, I first contacted the RWA (of which I’m a member) to use their office. I started by sending out bulk SMSes and the response was very good. Initially it was slow but as the last day of registration came closer, it increased.

IJ: Did you conduct a door-to-door drive?
R:Since there were almost 200 members who needed to be registered I sent out bulk SMSes and the responses were quick and instant. This way I would know which families to go to and their location etc. Doing door to door campaigning can be a bit strenuous. Apart from this I also put up posters in apartments, and this way also people got to know.

IJ: Any problems you faced? How did you solve them?
R: My main problem was that people find the forms complicated and end up filling them wrongly. The forms should actually be simplified. Since I couldn't fill everyone's forms, I filled one or two forms in my area and showed others how to do it and was there to help if required. This made the process much faster. Filling the correct form with the right documents means less chances of rejection.

IJ: Do you have a team or are you working alone?
R: The members of the RWA helped me to some extent especially when we had to verify if the names were there in the first place. And there are a lot of corrections to be done. But other than that, it was technology which helped me most.
 
IJ: How was your experience meeting the ERO? Were they co-operative, encouraging?
R: Not very. Initially they were very happy but once I took the forms out they turned the other way around.

IJ: Any suggestions or tips for our other AVMs?
R: Going door to door is a bit difficult unless you stay in a small area. An alternate is to go to the nearest RWA, put up posters in major junctions, or meet the building secretaries of apartments.

We hope this podcast was interesting and inspiring. Wait for some more interesting stories, in the mean time go ahead and register to become AVM. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Dont forget to refer to your friends.

Kritika Gopinath - Kritika is a communications volunteer at Janaagraha.

Thejesh GN - Thej is a blogger and technology volunteer at Janaagraha.